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White Sox best Blue Jays behind Quintana's gem

Jun 29, 2014 - 11:02 PM Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Jose Quintana combined with two Chicago relievers on a four-hit shutout to lead the White Sox to a 4-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Quintana (5-7) yielded just three hits along with a pair of walks while striking out seven during his seven-inning masterpiece, which was aided by a two-run single from Tyler Flowers and Moises Sierra's solo homer.

"He attacked the zone, and if he can get ahead and stay there and mix speeds like he did today, he's tough," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said of Quintana.

Jose Abreu added an RBI single to help Chicago close out an 11-game road trip with wins in the final three tests of this four-game set.

The Blue Jays' inability to generate any offense against Quintana and bullpen members Eric Surkamp and Jake Petricka resulted in a fourth straight losing decision for Mark Buehrle (10-5). The former White Sox hurler pitched well in defeat, however, allowing two runs on six hits through eight innings.

Buehrle's only two blemishes came in back-to-back innings. Gordon Beckham came through with a ground-rule double with two out in the third and Abreu sent him home on a single to left, with Sierra making it a 2-0 lead by clobbering a changeup over the Blue Jays' bullpen in the fourth.

"I threw a changeup pretty much right down the middle," said Buehrle of the homer. "It's frustrating, because you know you don't have to throw much in the strike zone [to Sierra] and I pretty much teed one up for him."

The veteran lefty was nearly spotless thereafter, finishing out his strong stint by recording eight straight outs. Problem was, Quintana was simply better.

Toronto mustered only two singles through the first four frames against the Chicago southpaw, fresh off another outstanding seven-inning performance Tuesday in Baltimore in which he permitted one run, and didn't put multiple men on base until Jose Reyes doubled in the sixth and Edwin Encarnacion drew a two-out walk.

Quintana got the dangerous Jose Bautista to harmlessly hit into a force play, however, to end the Blue Jays' best scoring chance of the day.

"I tried to keep the ball down with him," said Quintana of Bautista's at-bat. "I was behind the count 2-0. I wanted to keep the ball away. I think I threw a good pitch after I was behind in the count, and I came up with the ground ball for the out."

The White Sox tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the ninth, with Sierra lacing a double following a walk to Paul Konerko to set up Flowers' two-run hit up the middle off Sergio Santos.

Game Notes

Abreu's single extended his hitting streak to 14 games ... Sierra and Alexei Ramirez both finished 2-for-4 for Chicago ... Bautista did not start for a seventh straight game as he deals with a strained hamstring, but was used as a pinch hitter in the seventh ... Buehrle is in the midst of his longest losing streak since a four-game slide with Miami from June 1-19, 2012 .... Quintana improved to 4-1 in five lifetime starts against the Blue Jays.